Vet recommended dog supplement

[Popcorn bby]

I went to a guinea pig specialist the other day for other reasons, but while going through their history and everything, she recommended an immune booster that she said they had at her old vet place. She searched it on amazon and looked through the ingredients, and didn't know how to pronounce most of them except for olive leaf and the main immune booster, echinacea. I know guinea pigs can have echinacea, but the other ingredients I'm not sure. Has anyone ever heard of Animal Essentials Super Immune? You can find it in US websites like chewy.com and you can also find it on amazon. The ingridients are olive leaf, echinacea herb and root, eleuthero herb, vegetable glycerin USP and distilled water. Anyone know of any of these are dangerous? I'll put a picture up so you can find it online easier. I'm mainly questioning the vegetable glycerin (what does USP mean btw?) and the eleuthero herb. Any advice on what I should do? I wouldn't ever feed them something I'm not 100% about.

 

[Siikibam]

Is this to be fed to a dog or guinea pig? If the latter may I ask why it was recommended? I don’t think piggies need immune boosters...

 

[Popcorn bby]

Is this to be fed to a dog or guinea pig? If the latter may I ask why it was recommended? I don’t think piggies need immune boosters...

It's labeled for dogs and cats, but she said that in her old place lots of guinea pigs and rats did really well on it. She said it worked really well to help prevent things like URIs, which both my piggies had twice this year, just one month apart. She said we should give it a try, and some people swore by the stuff but I can't find a single person who's used it. I know the ecinichea herb works to help at preventing URIs and other guinea illness, but the other ingridients are questioning. This was a vet specifically liscensed in treating guinea pigs and rabbits, so I'm in a stump.

 

[Siikibam]

I would say better to err on the side of caution and don’t give it. URI is a bacterial infection that can be picked up from other pets, including a cage mate (it’s highly infectious).

Aim for a balanced diet, regular cleaning and vet trips if you notice anything out of the ordinary with their behaviour.

 

[Popcorn bby]

I would say better to err on the side of caution and don’t give it. URI is a bacterial infection that can be picked up from other pets, including a cage mate (it’s highly infectious).

Aim for a balanced diet, regular cleaning and vet trips if you notice anything out of the ordinary with their behaviour.

Despite doing all we can to prevent URIs, they got two URIs just one month apart. Even now, they're sneezing and one Piggie is coughing like crazy right now, I'm quite concerned. Could this possibly be chronic? After their first URI, they've been sneezing and showing very minor symptoms, but obviously they didn't have a URI because they went a month and half without any medications. They healed from their last URI, and now today one of my piggies like I said is coughing a great amount, one loud long cough and then repeated coughs together five minutes later, then always a sneeze following. I'm giving it some time first, but despite this I do doubt they have URI. Sorry for my rant-ish paragraph hah, any knowledge?

 

[Siikibam]

Don’t worry, we’re here to help. I would take them back to the vet (perhaps another exotic vet if you can) and see what they say. Sometimes they cough/sneeze if eating too quick or drinking quick, or to clear dust from hay in their nasal passages. Is the sneezing constant?

 

[Freela]

Honestly, I think these things are more placebo than anything else. If you have any qualms about it, I wouldn't give it. My vet has, in the past, suggested supplementing sick pigs with vitamin C, which has more of a basis (as pigs can be low in vitamin C depending on their food intake) and is known to be safe.

 

[Popcorn bby]

Don’t worry, we’re here to help. I would take them back to the vet (perhaps another exotic vet if you can) and see what they say. Sometimes they cough/sneeze if eating too quick or drinking quick, or to clear dust from hay in their nasal passages. Is the sneezing constant?

Luckily, the coughs proved to be nothing. She's sneezing a good amount, but not anything to worry about I think. Now I'm all concerned for a new thing though (I don't know if I should say it here though, since my other thread talks all about it and I don't want these to be merged cause they're different topics). So I'll leave it to the other thread, since I'm quite concerned. Long story short, she's been gassy for a few days now and just ten minutes ago she ate a chunk of gum wrapper (which I believe is aluminum foil, but could be something similair).

 

[Siikibam]

You’ll have to watch her for any signs of change in behaviour. How big a piece did she eat and where was it from? Anything out of the ordinary I’d take her to the vet soon as though.